Parker McLachlin viewed the highlights — and the lowlight of Phil Mickelson's double bogey on the 72nd hole — in Sunday's U.S. Open with mixed emotions.

The former Punahou and UCLA standout, who called playing in the 2004 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills "his greatest thrill" so far in golf, really wanted to be at Winged Foot. But he didn't survive the local qualifying to get there.

Instead, he was putting the finishing touches on a final-round 69 to tie for second in the Nationwide Tour's Knoxville Open in Tennessee.

"I was making a lot of birdies. I was making a lot of putts. It was fun to do that," McLachlin said in a telephone interview.

He picked up $41,800 to move up to ninth on the tour's money list with $135,111.

That showing, and the knowledge that he's on pace to achieve his goal by finishing high on the Nationwide Tour's money list, was encouraging. The 21 leading money winners earn exempt status for the 2007 PGA Tour.

The realization that he is close to that provides some consolation for not playing in this year's U.S. Open.

"I missed the first stage. Had I qualified, I would have tried to make it in the sectional at Po'ipu Bay. I actually felt it was a pretty good thing I didn't," McLachlin said.

His reasoning?

It gave him ample time to prepare for the LaSalle Bank Open in Chicago during the week of the Kaua'i sectional. McLachlin finished in a tie for sixth in that event to earn $22,687.

Add that to what he earned in Knoxville during the week of the U.S. Open, it wasn't a bad consolation prize at all.

"It actually worked out well for me," McLachlin said.

Besides, who knows what might have happened if McLachlin had shown up at the Po'ipu Bay Golf Course and perhaps got the lone sectional spot won by 15-year-old Tadd Fujikawa?

We might not have enjoyed one of the three best tournament stories of this year's U.S. Open, according to NBC and Golf Channel commentator Mark Rolfing.

"Tiger (Woods) coming back and 'New York Loves Phil' were the two top stories. But I'd have to say Tadd Fujikawa was the third, or at least, among the five best stories of the tournament," Rolfing said. "Tadd was unbelievable."

Even guys on the Nationwide Tour were asking McLachlin about Fujikawa, the youngest ever to play in the 106-year history of the U.S. Open and only the 14th golfer from Hawai'i ever to compete in the national championship.

"I've never met Tadd. But everything I heard is that this guy's got a major game. In my mind, I was happy to see him there," said McLachlin, who added that it must have been a great experience for Fujikawa to play in the U.S. Open.

"Obviously, it was a great thing for me to experience the U.S. Open through a sectional in Hawai'i," said McLachlin, who qualified at the Turtle Bay Resort to play at Shinnecock two years ago.

It certainly was a win-win situation for McLachlin and Fujikawa.

For the 27-year-old McLachlin, who missed earning a PGA card by one stroke in last year's qualifying school, it means finishing among the top 21 money leaders on the Nationwide Tour in his rookie year to get a PGA card for next year.

"That's what I'm working toward. It's one of my goals and I'm somewhat ahead of schedule," said McLachlin, who has three top-10 finishes while playing in all 13 Nationwide events so far.

McLachlin also had a second-place finish in the tour's inaugural in Panama City, earning $41,066 in that event. It came on the heels on his making the cut in the PGA Tour full-field opener, the Sony Open in Hawai'i, when he made it as a Monday qualifier.

He has made the cut in his past five events going into the Chattanooga Classic beginning today. He will play in next week's Lake Erie Charity Classic in Pennsylvania before the Nationwide Tour takes a week off.

That drive to strive for a top-20 money finish is also why McLachlin won't even consider trying to qualify for golf's next major, the British Open, next month in Liverpool, England.

"It would take two, three weeks way from the Nationwide and I can't afford to do that," said McLachlin, grateful that he's physically fit to keep going week after week.

He's one of the better putters on the tour — first in putting average and second in putts per round at 27.9.

With 17 tournaments left, he wants to be among the players eligible for the Nationwide Tour Championship in November.

It's a long grind and a long way to go, but McLachlin is confident he can be there at the end. He's got the game and the strong mindset to do it.